Conservatives, Losing One Battle Doesn’t Mean We Have Lost The War

I was furious that Thad Cochran slimed his way to victory, but every time we hardcore conservatives lose a battle, it seems a contingent of bitter-enders starts up about how the Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same, and how they’ll refuse to vote in the general, and how they’ll take their collective ball and go home.

That’s crazy talk. We can get even with the GOP establishment later; we need to beat the Democrats first.

Now, many of my good friends disagree with me here, but I respect them enough to say what I think. And I think that when we focus on the establishment’s antics in Mississippi instead of focusing on November, we make Barack Obama happier than if he got to play 18 holes with the ghost of Karl Marx.

Let us assume that Thad Cochran didn’t play fair. Now let me assume the role of your father:

Life is not fair.

Yeah, I was shocked – shocked! – that our opponents refused to commit ritual suicide in order to allow our chosen candidate to waltz into the nomination that, a couple weeks ago, was his for his taking. Was anyone expecting the establishment to go quietly, to rollover, to not use every tool at its disposal to hold on to power?

We’re conservatives. We’re not supposed to make excuses, but I’m sure hearing a lot in the wake of Cochran’s win.

Yeah, his win. News Flash: Thad Cochran got more votes than our guy. That means our guy failed to perform the most important function of a conservative politician.

Yeah, Cochran dared to appeal to Democrats…who voted for him. It would be nice to have other Republicans embrace this innovative concept.

Am I happy about the slanders Cochran’s buddies spread, or about the way the K Street crew spent zillions to keep Thad awake and away from the livestock long enough to get nominated?

No, but that ship has sailed and sank. Winners leverage their assets into victory.

Am I suggesting that we forgo our vengeance? Never! I’m all about payback. But getting even with these K Street creeps can wait. I say defeat the Democrats first. Instead of choosing to fight two opponents at once, we can deal with these establishment tools later from a position of strength when Reid’s reign is just a bad memory.

Kurt Schlichter (Twitter: @KurtSchlichter) was personally recruited to write conservative commentary by Andrew Breitbart. He is a successful Los Angeles trial lawyer, a veteran with a masters in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, and a former stand-up comic.